Beast Machines: Savage Planet
by Panda Scribe
Summary: Nightscream finds himself on an alien planet, home to a variety of deadly megafauna and flora and a species of some very familiar looking creatures. There he finds new friends and an old ally, setting him on the course to discovering an awful truth regarding the existence of an old enemy of all Transformers.
1. Chapter 1

**Beast Machines: Savage Planet**

_This is an old fanfic, from 2007 at least. It's been an ongoing beast of a fanfic, filled with twists and turns and the occasional hallmarks of my other fanfics. It's basically one of the first fanfics I published online, though it has changed a bit since I've started reworking out of nostalgia and the rekindling of my BM fandom side. Keeyah has changed appearance a little, but the story will stay pretty much the same, even though parts I am seriously reworking due to parts that I couldn't follow up on, aside from the spelling and grammar errors._

_So sit back, grab some popcorn or a drink and crank up the E.S. Posthumus. Oh and this first chapter is a tad short. I apologize for that._

**Ch. 1 First Encounter**

At first, all was dark. There was no sound, no feeling, and no other stimulus. Nightscream could not feel nor could he scream. It was as though he had been sent right into the very vacuum of space.

_Oh Primus I'm gonna die!_ He thought fearfully.

The only thing he did know was that he was falling, but couldn't see where. Then there was a sensation that touched his optics like an energo-knife. There was a light, not too bright but rather soft. He kept starring and starring. It got bigger and bigger, until it was the size of one of the moons of Cybertron when they appeared on the horizon. It grew bigger and bigger. There was another sensation, that of wind as it brushed by his side, triggering his wings to move, but they couldn't. It was as though he had some kind of paralysis in his lower legs. Nightscream had no time to think, he was going faster and faster. Before he could even issue a mental scream, he was devoured by the light.

* * *

Several birds cried and sang as big rain drops fell from broad leaves and fern fronds onto mossy stones and rotting logs. Somewhere, out in the dense green that seemed like a wall, a large therapod crashed through the trees, it's large three clawed hand gripping branches. Down on the ground, and farther away from the feasting therapod, a slender body laid partially hidden under some ferns. A shiny blue-green beetle the size of a mouse landed on the back of the being, crawling around on its back like some kind of bored explorer. It crawled upon a large hump and investigated a circular object that was a part of the creature's back. Suddenly the body moved and the beetle, alarmed that this particular being was moving, immediately flew off, a little irritated. A head, elven with a few strands of brown poked out of the ferns. It was Nightscream as he rose from the ferns, a little disheveled, mostly dazed and confused (and not in that order), blinking in the light of a sunspot he found himself in. Slowly he sat up, blinking his huge blue optics, narrowing them in the bright sunlight. What greeted them seemed like a incredibly green world of moss and leaves, the former covering every single inch of ground, except for the bare spots of black earth. To the untrained eye, it would seem like the entire jungle surrounding Nightscream was no more than a huge green wall. When one looked closely, there was depth, though not as much as one would see in an open plain, but enough to distinguse one tree from another. Every now and then a bird or two would flutter like a little jewel of color, disturbing the green.

"What is this place?" asked Nightscream, though there seemingly was no one to answer him in this strange world.

No did answer him and he sat there for a while, before he got the mind to stand up and look around this new green world.

But just as he was doing that, Nightscream heard branches snapping. He started, as all around him, branches broke and snapped. Whatever it was, it was coming closer – and increasing in number. Nightscream looked about, frightened and confused, stopping when he saw bushes and low lying branches a few meters from him start to shake and snap. Birds, insects and small mammal like creatures fled madly away from the area, leaving Nightscream alone in the ferns. All around him was nothing but silence and the odd snapping and twigs underfoot. He looked up to see the first of huge stealthy shadows emerge from the green wall like moray eels through coral. Their eyes were a baleful bright red and they had fangs, like razors that glinted in the sparse sunlight. One of them, a large specimen with large razor fangles rising from its withers lifted its head and inhaled deeply. His head moved towards the direction of Nightscream still in the ferns. The young bat Maximal saw the monster, and monster most definitely saw Nightscream. A sharp, nasty odor like that of burnt, rotted circuits and scummy mech fluids rose into the olfactory unit of Nightscream, making him nearly gag. From that smell, Nightscream could tell that this creature, whatever it was, ate the most unusual prey. He shuddered and tried not to make any sudden movement, as not to make the beast aware of his presence, though it was pretty evident that the beast knew what this creature was and was very intent on killing and devouring him. The creature strode into the light, revealing a very sleek alien form. It was shiny with gunmetal parts and dark grey skin flecked with neon green dapples on its flanks when the sun hit them the right way. Its head was narrow and predatory, suggesting something very familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. Slowly, it inched towards Nightscream's face, getting closer and closer. Nightscream's optics widen when the reek of the beast reached his olfactory unit. Then the creature opened its mouth.

Before it could snap its jaws onto Nightscream's neck, a strange cry startled both Nightscream and the beast. The beast withdrew its mouth from Nightscream and looked up. Nightscream did as well to see a shadow leap from the sky – or so it seemed, and onto the ground. The beast snarled and barked orders it seemed to its pack and started after the newcomer. Nightscream tried to look, but all he saw was whirls of grey and flashing green, mixed with that of red-orange and black dancing around and splashes of strange ooze from the predator's flanks. Like a dervish, the newcomer leapt from the pack's jaws and right next to Nightscream.

Right next to him was a being of red-orange with bands of black all over. It was slim and lithe, poised like an acrobat, kneeling like a cricket ready to spring. A braid of red and black rested on its back, and it appeared to be wearing some kind of armband with twin feathers from an alien bird stuck in it. The body had odd splotches of black on it in intermediate variance against a reddish body. It turned to Nightscream and for the first time he was aware that this was female - and a Transformer.

Without a word, the girl grabbed his arm and pulled him away, sprinting like an Olympic athlete through the jungle. As she ran, branches and ferns scratched his face like claws. Close behind were the strange beasts, moving like barracudas, filled with a murderous frenzy. The led one, with his large franglets cried, an eerie mix between a puma's scream, a tiger's growl, and a squeal, making Nightscream nearly trip over himself. He stumbled, but the girl dragged him along, heedless of his situation. They both ran like the wind, the girl leaping over fallen logs and dodging low lying branches and vines, Nightscream clumsily trying to mimic her moves. She was furtherest away from him, dragging him along at an arm's length. Nightscream wanted to see her face in better detail, but couldn't and was constantly trying to keep up. But they suddenly stopped. Nightscream nearly fell over himself when the girl stopped.

As she stood there, Nightscream righted himself up, and got a good look at her. She was standing there, with a stern look upon her face, looking down into a chasm. When she turned to Nightscream, she looked him over. Then she spoke in an alien language.

"_Shana doi_?" she queried, pointing down. "_Shana doi_?"

"W-wait, what?" said Nightscream as the led beast screamed again, making him jump.

The girl turned to see the beasts, then grabbed Nightscream's arm and dragged him away. Before Nightscream could protest, the girl flung herself and him off the cliff, into the chasm.

**_To be continued..._**

_**I love reviews**_

_**Plus, all instances of the Watori language will be in italics from now on. I will be entering some definitions of various words every now and then in case someone needs one.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Beast Machines: Savage Planet**

_I'm going to try to publish the first few chapter this week, when I get a chance to edit them. Please enjoy this, it's probably going to go fast._

**Ch. 2 Memory and Smoke**

As the wind blew around her face, Keeyah held the boy's wrist tightly as she reached out to grab a vine. The noise of the screaming _sharukas_ was deafening as they howled and screamed in rage over their loss. She carefully swung across the chasm, looking down only to see the boy, screaming as well though his voice was lowering in tone as he realized that they were not falling but soaring across an abyss. When they reached the other end, Keeyah leapt off and somersaulted in the air, landing on her feet, with the boy beside her in a tangled mess. Letting go of the boy's wrist, she turned around to see the snarling, angry _sharukas_ starring at her and the boy.

"Go away, monsters!" she shouted at the snarling beasts, knowing that they understood her words. "He's not yours!"

One by one the snarlers left, still hungry and pissed off at the loss of an easy meal. Only the leader, large and raging with a low rumble in his throat stayed the longest, taking in Keeyah's appearance as well as her angry stare from afar. She withdrew a knife made out of jet black obsidian and pointed it in the leader's direction. The monster flinched and then turned away very slowly disappearing into the jungle. With a quick hand, she sheathed her knife, and then knelt by the boy. He was recovering and was sitting, watching her little conversation with the lead monster. Now she could see the boy in full detail. What she saw made her flinch a little.

What she had thought was a young Watori, perhaps from another tribe was really a slim, strangely made creature with wings on his heels. When he looked up at her, she saw that he had bright blue eyes, which startled her so much that she nearly fell off her toes. Rolling back up, and snapping up to size up the strange creature, Keeyah examined the boy closely. He was very thin, with a strange backpack shaped piece of armor covering his upper half, she could not understand its function and he had what appeared to be wayward hair on his head, a few strands covering up an eye of his. She reached out and touched that piece of hair, which in reaction, the boy scuttled back. In reaction to that she hopped back, still starring at him. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him and then extended a hand to him. The boy took it and then with his free hand touched his chest. When he did that a compartment opened, revealing a glowing ball of fire. Keeyah tried to back away, but the boy's grip seemed too strong. She turned to see it, shielding her eyes from it and looked at it. It was round and bright, glowing and pulsing, brilliance like the sun above the treetops, but dimmer and a soft blue. Starring into its depths, she saw something, a flicker.

_The world is filled with smoke…_

…_Where is mother, where is she…_

… _There are others…_

…"_My mother where is she?"…_

…_Large ones, with glowing eyes that pierce the very soul…_

… _No, she's already dead…_

… _That's not true…_

…_These others, they have tiny suns, dimmer bright things in themselves… _

… _They call them Sparks…._

Keeyah starred at it, a sudden surge of horror and pain coming through her like a cold knife through her chest.

He was one of them. She had rescued the Others who killed her mother…

* * *

Nightscream had been sitting there as the girl knelt and looked at him. She kept on sniffing him and touching his hair. At first it was a little annoying then it became apparent that she probably didn't know who or what he was. Looking at her, she was obviously a Techno-Organic Transformer, perhaps of Maximal origin, though it escaped his mind on how a Maximal could've gone Techno-Organic without the help of the Oracle. Not that he was really thinking about that, he was merely pleased that he met a locale and perhaps she would lead him to the Maximal colony if she was near one. But soon, as Nightscream examined her (as she was examining him) he realized that she was if at all Transformer, she was not familiar with other Transformers.

Maybe she's like that Wheelie from history, the lost boy, he thought to himself, I just hope she doesn't speak in rhymes, if she can speak any Basic that is.

As she reached out with her hand after unsuccessfully trying to take away his hair, Nightscream quickly grabbed her hand, not too strongly but enough to stop her from trying to slip out and steal his wings.

"Hey, don't be afraid, okay?" he said as he reached towards his Spark chamber. He touched it, asking mentally for it to open. Normally it would not open, unless he commanded it or at the moment of his death. It was a precious safe-guard against any who would steal a Spark or touch it, for it was a great taboo for a Transformer to touch another Transformer's Spark, even on battlefield, even the most coldhearted of enemies refused to touch another Spark. Only in times of great need as when one had to replace a Spark into another's body, one needed to touch it, even then no one ever touched a Spark's surface.

It opened with a click, almost making Nightscream startle, remembering a time in which that meant he had lost and was dying, removed from his shell…

He recovered, feeling the girl flinch and try to pull her body away. Nightscream tried to calm her down.

"Please don't," he said, in a non-threatening voice. "It's okay, it's alright. See, I have a Spark, I'm a Transformer, like you."

As he lifted his head he saw the girl sitting there in rapt attention, starring at his Spark, her expression hard to tell.

He slowly loosened his grip on the girl.

Her face had stripes of black upon a reddish mask, set with two large optics made alien by the presence of dark sclera. She had red and black hair in a long braid and her tail was covered in red-orange and black bands. Her ears were like two elven points standing out from either side of her head, making her appear a little feline as well as curious, though Nightscream was pretty sure she was not a cat at all.

Nightscream was watching the girl so intently that he hardly noticed her trying to pull out of his grip until she jerked him sharply. He nearly fell over himself until she sprung to her toes, crouching like a tiger. Nightscream righted himself as did the girl, slowly and gingerly. Before he could speak to her she drew out her obsidian knife, the same one she had threatened the predator with and jabbed at him with it. He dodged them, until he fell on his back. She pounced upon him and held the knife at his throat.

"_Shak mana eh toua_!" she hissed. "_Eyah tomaka gero! Tomaka gero, sagra_!"

Nightscream lay there, almost thinking that he should sonic screech her off his chest, but deciding that would do more harm than good. With the obsidian blade at his throat, Nightscream felt as though he was going to have his vocal sensors ripped out, or at least his head, though how much harm that would do to a mechanical- organic robot like him was questionable. It soon became clear to Nightscream that she had experience with robots, correction _transforming _robots before. And furthermore it was not a good experience. The obsidian blade still at his neck, and the girl's piercing eyes still glaring at him, Nightscream took the Transformer's equivalent of a breath and found his calm point. In a flash of blue and white, Nightscream transformed into his bat mode as the girl leapt off of him like a skittish cat. She crouched there, her tail waving furiously as he took off as quick as he could, navigating through the ferns and branches.

* * *

"Monster!" hissed Keeyah; for that was the only word she could describe that – that boy, that boy-thing.

She scowled as the boy-thing flew off into the higher canopy.

I hope he gets eaten by the _tayaconda_, she thought to herself as she stood up again.

She sheathed her knife into its bark wood scabbard that hung from her waist. Looking up, Keeyah sniffed the air.

Those _sharukas_ will be back soon, she said to herself, I need to get into the upper canopy before they catch my scent. She thought of the boy. Why did I happen upon him? She thought to herself, her face slowly softening, he was in trouble, but he was one of the Others…

It hurt her internally, she felt the fires and tasted the bitter ozone tang of their presence once more, as it haunted her dreams the most. Even more nowadays, she thought to herself as she thought about her dreams. Medicine Man hasn't given me much insight into what they mean…

Her train of thought was disturbed by a rustle in the ferns near her. She quickly took note of it and leapt onto a tree trunk. Transforming into a more suitable shape akin to a lemur, Keeyah started on her way up to the upper canopy.

* * *

The sun of this strange world was slowly setting behind a range of black jagged mountains. The sunlight was red like blood, muddling into pink and orange in a wash that saturated the sky. It oozed onto the mountains, casting a molten look. The jungle below was slowly getting a misty cover from the lowering temperature and was touched by red and rosy fingers making it look like someone had spilt melted fruit sorbet over the leaves. Bursting through a thick cover, a large brown and blue creature exploded out of the tree cover.

Nightscream winged out of the jungle cover, getting the first light from the sun setting behind the mountains in the distance. His eyes were used to seeing some light, though his inner bat was more than a little pleased that he was escaping into the darkening hour rather than the first break of morning. However, Nightscream was not going to wait for the night to fall after his little encounter with those predators in the jungle below. Even with his bat senses at full input, he was not very sure that he could evade any flying predators, especially ones that were potentially large and stronger than him. He propelled himself higher into the sky, trying to get a better feel for the land below him.

Beneath him was a huge green expanse, growing darker with the advent of night, a shining thread of light told him there was a river, like a great snake winding through the jungle splitting in areas into smaller daughters. Birds flew from the canopy tops occasionally as he flew over, closer to the green tops. Further in the distance, he could see a volcano, its innards glowing red as a small arch of lava danced across the sky. It was far from the jungle though, even though the red flared up at times as he crossed the great expanse. Turning over to his left, away from the setting sun, Nightscream saw a blue line in the distance. With his hearing, he detected some kind of rumbling.

An ocean! He thought excitably. He had heard of such places when he read about other worlds, like Earth and the terraformed Mars, were oceans covered great expanses (though not as much on Mars) and contained many different kinds of organisms. It was also a place were one could swim and get – now what was that human term – wet. It meant not a lot to a Transformer, whose previous experience with something of that magnitude was the Sea of Rust, now home to a large, deeper Sea of Dirge which had been replaced with water, though Maximals and Predacons he had talked to who had been off world said that an ocean was larger and much, much different from the Sea of Dirge's water, saying it was of a different quality and wasn't good to drink.

As he turned away, Nightscream caught sight of the volcano. Now he had heard of those as well. As a mere child, Nightscream thought that a volcano was a large forge, which was the closest thing on Cybertron that he had ever been in contact with that was close to a volcano. As he learned later on, he found out that this was woefully false. As he learned, a volcano was created through an upwelling of magma – or something to that effect. It came from the mantle in a plume and was capable of great destruction when it erupted violently. Because of this, as he read more, many cities had been destroyed completely, one that he found intriguing was the movies of the Pompeii eruption that his teacher showed, a few months before the virus, in which humans had excavated an entire ancient city that was buried by ash. It was still fascinating to many Transformers, for other such discovers had been found on old colony worlds, were entire colony bases had been buried by a volcanic eruption and lost for thousands of years until discovery.

Then he caught something on the wind, a thin acidy smell that made him wrinkle his nose in disgust, though it was very familiar to him. Turning his head in the direction of the smell, Nightscream saw a thin black continuous shape rise from the jungle below.

Smoke!

Sure enough, in the dim light of the coming night, Nightscream saw a thin trail of smoke.

Maybe someone is there, he thought. Then he thought of the girl and her reaction to him.

Perhaps it would not be a good idea to investigate, but as he turned to see the setting sun, Nightscream saw it sink into the mountains, only a sliver of butter yellow left to denote it was ever in the sky in the first place. He had no choice. With steady flight, Nightscream flapped his leathery wings and started on a downward spiral to the place where the smoke was rising.

* * *

The breeze in the jungle grew cold and wet as the old warrior settled down by his fire. It wasn't a big one, but it was good enough to keep him warm – and scare off some of the animals big enough to eat him. Looking over his platform in the mid-level canopy, he saw nothing but darkness and then a deer passed silently under him. He wrinkled his nose in frustration, knowing he couldn't stay in this place for long, for the venators would get smart onto his location. Soon he would move and build a platform in a higher part of the canopy. This would get increasingly difficult, since his body wasn't really used to climbing up and down trees constantly. Unfortunately, this would be happening a lot, especially in hunting down sizable prey to take up to his home.

The old warrior tore off a piece from a techno-organic flank of a hyposilodon-like creature that had been roasting over the fire. He gnawed it with the bored monotonous grinding of a man driven to the brink of the heart of darkness. Then something very strange happened. There was a rustling and a thump behind him on the platform. Grabbing for his sword on his back, the old one turned around swiftly to see a winged creature engulfed in bright blue and white. Shielding his eyes, the old one watched as the winged creature transform into a slender being that promptly fell on its butt.

Nightscream looked at the old one as the old one starred straight at him.

"A – A – Transformer?" asked the old one, with a slight snarl at the end of his sentence.

To be continued...

_**DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNN**_

For clarification:

Sharukas: Sharkiticons, at least a breed that has been created to stealthly navigate the undergrowth of the jungle of this particular world.

Tayaconda: A large python like snake, similar to titanoboa, but venomous. Kills with venom rather than constriction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Beast Machines: Savage Planet**

_**Sorry for the long wait on this one, there's been some distractions here and there for me in the last couple of days.**_

**Ch. 3 An Old Warrior**

Dinobot starred at this new arrival. He looked like a Transformer, or at least like the kind he had turned into, with pointed ears and big blue optics as well as wings attached to his heels like Hermes the ancient Earth god. After some awkward silence, Dinobot decided it was time for introduction.

"Who are you?" he asked with a mild snarl at the end of his question. "Are you a Maximal or a Predacon?" With a snarl at the end of the word "Predacon."

"Maximal of course," said the young Maximal in a rude tone, "who are you, exactly?"

Dinobot was evidently very displeased. He jumped onto Nightscream and pinned him down, without reaching for his sword upon his back.

"I *snarl* do not like rudenesssss," snarled Dinobot into the boy's face, seeing visible fear in his optics. "Sssso you better behave… or beware…"

With a snarl, Dinobot lifted himself away from the Transformer.

"You where very lucky," said Dinobot. "I'm not in the mode for killing someone I can talk to…"

"So, you're not gonna go berserk on me like that girl," said Nightscream picking himself up.

"What girl?" asked Dinobot, the very word "girl" making his eyes widen.

"Oh that girl," said Nightscream, rather unhappy, "she saved me from these… creatures and then she tried to kill me. It was when I transformed that she got scared off."

"A girl, a girl with a branded tail and eyes like fire?" asked the old warrior, standing up, turning to the Maximal.

"Yes," he said, "she tried to kill me."

Dinobot grabbed Nightscream by the shoulders.

"That girl is a trained warrior," said Dinobot, snarling at each pause "and a user of some unusual talentsss. You where lucky enough to escape her, since she has almost no rival, save for the most dangerous creatures in this jungle." Dinobot looked away for a moment, listening to the night sounds, and then turned back to Nightscream. "You have only met the _shakaru_, haven't you?"

"The creatures?"

"In a pack, they always travel in packs. Only the old and infirmed travel alone, but even then they are dangerous and will go after easy prey, such as yourself."

He let the Maximal go. With a step back, the Maximal stumbled to the ground, sitting there, trying to comprehend what this stranger was talking about.

"So," snarled the old warrior, "who are you?"

"Nightscream," said Nightscream, very abruptly.

"I am Dinobot," said the old warrior, "at least that's what I remember. I used to be a part of a group of Maximals, very determined group who fought my old – err, I don't have a real word to describe him in an endearing way, but I was a former warrior under his command. I left him, which I hope was for the better. Do you know of a – oh well, you probably don't know of any this. You come from Cybertron, right?"

"Well, of course," said Nightscream, covering his mouth at the last moment, knowing he sounded rude.

Dinobot merely starred at Nightscream and smiled. It was such a long time since Dinobot actually felt this way, connected to another person, well at least someone who wasn't going to kill him.

"That's okay," said Dinobot, "but I have to ask you something."

"Anything!"

"Do you happen to know anyone from Earth? I know it is quite an unusual question, but understand, I want to know."

"Well, I think I do. At least I think I do. The other guys never talked all about their past that much, but Blackarachinia used to speak about Silverbolt and Earth, but never openly to me. I have no true idea of what they were talking about…"

"Blackarachinia? Silverbolt?" Dinobot was confused. Surely this could not be the Maximals he knew! "Never mind about that. I wanted to know, since I knew a few Maximals on Earth."

"You went to Earth? Wow! I didn't think…"

"You aren't thinking," Dinobot snarled, "keep your voice low, there are predators that rely on sound alone for searching."

"Ohhh," whispered Nightscream. He looked around as Dinobot sat down and returned to eating his meal. The old warrior turned to the Maximal and offered him a chunk of the meat he was eating. Without another thought, Nightscream took a small piece and chewed it. It wasn't really what he would like, but he hadn't had an energy intake for a long time, and the chase had taken a lot out of him. After a few bits, Nightscream turned to the old warrior as he starred at the fire.

"I want to know something," asked Nightscream, "how did you get here? And why do seem to know so much?"

"Hrm?" Dinobot was disturbed.

"I just want to know some things," asked Nightscream. "You seem to know a lot about that girl."

"Ask a lot of questions, now don't you?" said Dinobot. "What I would like to know is, how did you get here?"

Nightscream starred off into no where for a while. He hadn't really thought about it, and now that Dinobot had asked him, he wasn't sure if he knew the right answer.

"To tell you the truth," said Nightscream, "I don't remember. I didn't see anything, I don't think I was on a ship or anything because I found myself here, well in a fern grove, but that's about it. It's like there's a huge blank in my mind." He looked up. "Someone stole it!"

"That's ridiculous!" snarled Dinobot, as he took another piece off of the flank he had in his hands. After a slight pause, Dinobot quickly gulped down the piece he was eating and replied, "Nightscream, I know you don't know her all that much."

"You're talking about that girl?"

"Yes, she is still a force to be reckoned. If you ever meet her alone, you must not be afraid to attack her, because she will expect that. Sometime in the past, she had an unfortunate encounter with a Transformer or a group. Even though she is a Transformer, she does not trust any of us. She does not trust Transformers."

"Tell me something I DON'T know."

Dinobot was about to curtly call him off but then he realized something.

"I have no idea of how I got here, either," said Dinobot, as he took his shield off of his back. "But I think you need to save these questions for later."

"How come?"

"Do you really want to ask me that?" Dinobot snarled, glaring at the bat Maximal.

Nightscream remembered Dinobot's attack a few minutes ago.

"Sorry," he said as he curled up in a ball.

Dinobot watched him for a while. It had been some time since he had someone to talk to. Without much thought, Dinobot ate the rest of his food in silence.

* * *

The sun broke through the branches onto a platform of bamboo and twine. Decorations of red and blue paint smeared the platform as the light revealed them in shocking contrast to the rest of the forest canopy. Around the platform were woven coverts, integrated into the living trees and made with bamboo stalks, with totems of feathers and flax waving in the soft breeze. There were bridges and causeways made from bamboo and tree vines as well, linking huts to the platform as well as other causeways. Even those were decorated, with pieces of woven flax hanging from the end of each causeway in a different color – blue, red, black, and even a hint of yellowish gold. In the middle of the platform, ashes and charred wood marked the fire that burned in the midst of the village last night.

Within one of the huts, a girl with a red-orange techno-organic body rested in woven hammock. She was not asleep but looking at the ceiling above her with some interest. Her face was not that of curiosity but of silent comprehension. When the sun peeked in through the bamboo shoots that provided her with a small window in the rafters, Keeyah turned her head to one side.

In the hammock next to her's, she could hear her mother, Blyna, wake up. In another few minutes the entire village would be up, mostly children and those who slept in.

Keeyah turned back to see the shaft of sunlight up above her. The thought of the boy still lingered in her thoughts, keeping her awake all night. She had not told her mother of the boy, for she knew it would not be a smart idea to do so. At least something told her that. It would cause unnecessary panic, which really wasn't needed when there were rumors of 'metal men' in the jungle and swamps below. Keeyah wasn't in the mood for a blame game with her nemesis, Chaka. Well, to her he certainly seemed the nemesis, always after her for the fact that she could change from the beast form she had used on several occasions, to her "normal" form, and back again. He also seemed afraid of her, though he would never show it in public, at least that's what Blyna said, but she probably said that to make her feel better. Chaka scared her, to a point were even a simple stare from him made her quiver a bit, shaking off her normally calm and self-possessed personality.

Rolling off of her bed, Keeyah got up and put her feathered armband on. It was difficult to sleep with it, and she wore it to keep her spirit and magic in. The two feathers, one from a red tipped venatorraptor was to show she was a skilled warrior and hunter; the other, an iridescent blue wing feather from an elusive Moon bird showed she had a connection with the spirit world. She felt her face and noticed that the blue streak that marked her face was gone. She went to her stash of blue paint and with two fingers carefully traced a line down her nose bridge. It was ever so important to have this on, since she was a part of the Watori and a learner under Medicine Man's wing. She would've worn red paint, save it didn't show up as well on her face as it did the faces of the blue Watori. Wiping the rest of the blue paint upon her arm in a form that suggested her spiritual communication, Keeyah quickly rolled over to see her mother on the floor, settled by the hearth. There, Blyna was busy throwing mash upon the heated rocks around the small fire. Blyna was average sized for a Watori female, perhaps the same size as the average height for a human woman, though she was lupine looking in features, with splashes of light rose in spots around her body, brindling her feet and hands with white-rose hair that came down to the small of her back. On her right arm, like Keeyah, she wore a feather armband, this with two feathers, one from a yellow calling bird and the other from a green lizard-bird, showing that she was a healer and herbalist by trade, knowing the way of plants. Her mane was carefully braided into two long plaits. On her legs, she wore flax grieves, to protect her when she was amongst the undergrowth. Without turning from her cooking, Blyna called out to Keeyah.

"Keeyah, where do you think you're going?" asked Blyna. "You haven't eaten yet."

"I was just going to see my friends, mama," answered Keeyah as she landed gracefully upon her butt. "Lulu said she saw a group of longas out in the bamboo grove. Mama, do you think that hiding something is okay?"

Blyna peeled off one of the cakes and handed it over to Keeyah.

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Blyna, as she turned to Keeyah "did you see one of the metal men?"

"No, I didn't" lay Keeyah, hiding it as well as she could, "I was just thinking, because I got chased by some of the _shakaru_ yesterday…"

"That's different, Keeyah and you should know better than to go into the _shakarus_' territory. They could've killed you! Do you have any scratches from them? Let me see…"

"No mama! I was just hiding out when they came upon me. Lousy _sagra_! Always hungry."

"Well, they are worst than the _rispahs_ and the slashers," said Blyna as she peeled off her own cake. "I'm just worried that I might loose you."

"You're not gonna loose me," said Keeyah as she ate the rest of the quinoa. And she licked her fingers free of crumbs she suddenly thought of her dreams. "Blyna, I want to tell you something."

"I'm all ears," said Blyna, waiting for her quinoa to cool.

"I've been having dreams, almost all throughout my life," said Keeyah. "I've probably told you this before, but my dreams, they're all of this life, I don't know if its mine, but I'm looking for someone, and I think it's you mama. But I see fire and smoke. It's so dark and terrible, and then this face comes out of nowhere. It's evil, with red eyes starring down at me. It's one of the metal men and he's about to get me, but the dream ends. I don't know why I have this dream, but it's telling me something."

"Have you talked to Medicine Man, yet?" asked Blyna.

"That's the problem, I have told Medicine Man about my dreams. All he says is that I must fallow them, it really isn't that helpful though."

Blyna patted her back.

"The Ways of the Spirits are strange, in time you will learn. What has brought up such an interesting question, my child?"

For a moment, Keeyah saw the boy and his blue eyes. She then shook her head.

"Nothing," she said, "I was just wondering about my dream, that's all."

* * *

"Why did you leave your home?" asked Nightscream as he pushed away another fern in his path.

The jungle was alive with the sounds of various singing birds and strange bellowing noises that came every half an hour or so. Nightscream and Dinobot were pushing their way through the lower level, basically the jungle floor, ferns in their way. Dinobot was busily chopping his way with his huge sword as Nightscream fallowed behind. He was distraught that they had to go so quickly from the platform he had slept on last night. The old warrior did not give any explanation save for "go" and packed up some techno-organic fruit and the various tools he had in a leather bag. He also picked up a spear and told Nightscream that he would make him a leg-let pack that would fit over his right calf. As they passed through the jungle, Nightscream realized that they were getting lost somewhat in the jungle, though Dinobot didn't seem to care.

"Dinobot!" cried Nightscream, as he stumbled a little over the roots of a large tree. "I'm serious! Can you talk to me!?"

Dinobot merely ignored him and slashed away at a huge outcropping of ferns. Nightscream, very distraught ran after Dinobot only to be awed by what he saw. Before him and Dinobot was a huge clearing filled with large techno-organic flowers. There was a small swampy pond, at which two organic miniature deer were drinking at. When they saw the two Transformers they fled.

"We're stopping here? Great!" Nightscream ran up to the pond and looked at its surface. Dinobot starred at the pond and Nightscream then walked over very slowly, only to knell on the shore.

"It's only temporary," said Dinobot, as he took a small canteen made from bark and started to fill it. "I wanted to tell you why I am leaving that platform, but you would only be confused. What I really need you to do is to be quiet as we cross the floor. You did tell me about those shakaru, did you not?"

"Yes," said Nightscream as he touched the water's surface.

"They do hunt by smell, and you they will track over to the old platform. I know that would be very dangerous, since if they do, we will be trapped, that is how they hunt."

"So?"

"We have to leave the platform for good, but because you are not well camouflaged –"

Before Nightscream could say another word, Dinobot pushed Nightscream into the pond. After being under the water for a while, Nightscream pulled his head out of the muddy water. He was coated with a fine layer of silty mud.

"Why is it that I'm always being pushed or pulled into these things!?" he complained.

Dinobot chuckled a bit.

"You sound like a friend I knew back on Earth," Dinobot said with a nostalgic tone to his voice.

"Again with Earth," said Nightscream as he pulled himself out of the pond. "How is this going to help me?"

"It'll hide your scent and if you're lucky yourself from the _shakarus_. I don't need any…"

"How come?"

Dinobot took out his sword and struck it into the ground.

"This is why," said Dinobot, as he pulled it out slowly and placed it in its rightful place upon his back, "you upon the other hand don't have many skills do you?"

"I do have skills!" protested Nightscream, starring at the mud drying on his shell. "But not a sword…"

"Hand to hand combat is a necessary skill that needs to be used to fight the _shakaru_," explained Dinobot, as he gave a disapproving snarl over Nightscream's hands. "And those hands, you don't have a lot in the strength area, do you?"

"All these questions, what do you want to know!"

"Enough," Dinobot turned away and walked off across the clearing into the undergrowth.

Nightscream scowled and stormed after the old warrior. The two walked through the jungle floor, as Dinobot checked the trees, looking for a sturdy and tall tree. It seemed like hours passed, before Dinobot found the tree he was looking for. And now that they had found it, the old warrior was going to make Nightscream build the platform with him.

"Why?!" said Nightscream, exasperated. "We've just walked a million miles through this jungle and you want me to build a platform! Now, without any rest?"

"They do not rest, Nightscream," said Dinobot as he tore some saplings down. "They do fallow. Since you left them, they are now after you and will not stop until they are dead or if you die. Now help me with this!"

Nightscream grudgingly applied.

It took over four hours to build the platform. By the time they were done, the sun was right to set. The sky was glowing reddish as the sun sat on the jagged mountains, as Nightscream laid back and watched the sun set. It was so very odd to him that he had now spent two days on a world he did not know much of, but enough to stay alive at least. All this because of an old warrior who talked about Earth every waking moment. And the fact that he knew about the creatures in the forest. He was still very curious about the old man, as Dinobot carried up a pheasant-like bird he had slain for their dinner. Practically the only meal he ate was dinner now.

There was a small fire burning as Dinobot carried the bird over to the fire, plucking it with a monotonous fury.

Nightscream idly watched him for a moment and then wondered about the girl he had seen the day before.

* * *

Deep inside the village of the Watori, Keeyah was sitting up on the floor of the Medicine Man's hut, trying to meditate. Even though her mind was slowly reaching a subconscious level, she was very much aware that the sun outside was setting. Soon it would be night, a time for the shakaru to come out and hunt.

Without warning, she heard the voices of the Spirits talking to her. It was so sudden, she nearly jumped.

"Careful, my student," said Medicine Man as he steadied her. "Do not falter; the Spirits want to talk, not do any harm to you."

"I know," she said as her optics opened, now tinged with an eerie electric blue. She had successfully merged with the Spirit world. An aura of incandescent light surrounded her as the voices talked to her in many voices, though she could not understand all of them at once.

"They speak with many voices" she said, her tone of voice underlined with that of a faint ghostly hiss.

Medicine Man nodded his graying head.

"Can you hear one out of curiosity?" asked Medicine Man.

"No – wait," she did hear a voice, speaking in a language she did not understand. She closed her eyes and an aura of blue-green filled her vision. In front of her was that boy. His blue eyes starred at her own teal ones, making her nearly loose control.

"I can't!" she cried as she fell backwards, failing out her arms.

Landing on her back, Keeyah cringed in pain, but slowly realized that she saw the boy and in the Spirit World, no less. What did this all mean? She thought to herself.

Medicine Man merely watched in some sorrow as Keeyah pulled herself up.

"You got distracted," he said, his half blind eyes looking at her face with some pain.

"No, I saw nothing," she lied, though she was certain the Medicine Man saw through it.

"I see," said the old Watori, his braided blue-white hair shaking a bit. "When you want to tell me about it, I will be here."

"You're always in your hut," said Keeyah as she righted herself up. "How come, Medicine Man?"

"I used to young, like you," he said, "but now, my legs, they hurt whenever I walk. Staying here is my only option. And that is why I am depending on you to become the next Shaman when I die, for I have felt the Spirits tugging at my own, urging it to come with them."

"Do not talk that way!" said Keeyah. She hated it when people spoke about how the Spirits were tugging away at their own, as if they were already dying. "That's ridiculous, you're not even on your death bed!"

The Medicine Man starred at her. He smiled. For many years, he had trained her in the ways of the Spirits, showing her the glowing cave in the jungle, the spirit marks and finally the Spirit World itself. How odd, he thought as she watched her for a while, that this child had been chosen to have a great talent within the world of Spirits. He remembered how overjoyed she was when she got her blue feather of spirit.

Keeyah was standing up from her original position when a young Watori came up to them. He had gone all the way into the inner sanctum, where Keeyah and the Medicine Man had been meditating. Medicine Man lifted his head up when the young Watori had entered.

"Why are you here?" asked Medicine Man rather gruffly. "Can't you see we are meditating on the Spirits."

The young Watori tried to catch his breath, all the while looking rather frightened. Keeyah, on her feet came up to the young man.

"What has happened?"

"Something –" gasped the Watori, his orange-tinged fur standing up a little on his back. "Something is falling from the sky…"

"What is falling from the sky?" asked Medicine Man, now quite interested.

"Stars," said the young man as he pointed out of the hut. "Stars falling from the sky in great torrents."

As Keeyah listened, she carefully started to walk out of the hut. She could hear the villagers talk amongst themselves, frightened and awed at the scene that was happening outside. When she was fully out, Keeyah could see something in the sky, like flares falling from the heavens.

The sky had the reddish tinge of sunset, along with a wave of stars, but not in torrents, but in one great arc. She could see it was about more than two dozen, red-white as they entered the atmosphere, landing in one spot in the jungle, near the fire-mountain.

Something was a midst but she couldn't tell what.

"Keeyah!" shouted Medicine Man from the inside of his hut, "what is out there? What is the commotion about?"

Keeyah starred at the red flares falling to earth with silence.

"They are stars," she answered after a pause, "no, they aren't stars. But they are falling from the heavens…"

Suddenly Keeyah was struck by a barrage of screams from the Spirit World. She was thrown off her feet as she saw an image of that boy.

"Why are you appearing to me?" she asked as darkness enclosed around her.

_To be continued_

_**I haven't been updating as much I want, given that editing and working on this is a long endeavour, so please bear in mind that I have other stuff to worry about.**_

_**I won't be supplying a glossary of terms this chapter, unfortunately. I'm afraid much of it is repeat, as well as the fact I want to put this up as soon as possible.**_


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